The Burning Maze: The Trials of Apollo, Book 3
By Carrie R. Wheadon,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Evil Caligula reigns again in high-action Apollo sequel.
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Based on 7 parent reviews
Action-packed threequel has violence, some cursing
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Action-packed threequel has violence, some cursing
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What's the Story?
In THE BURNING MAZE, Apollo, in the body of a mortal teen named Lester; Meg, daughter of Demeter; and Grover, a satyr, follow the labyrinth to locate the third oracle. When they're attacked by giant cursed birds named strixes and nearly disemboweled, they know they're close to their destination. They emerge in the Southern California desert in a place Meg doesn't want to remember. Greenhouses built by her now-deceased father surround them. Most were burned out during an attack years ago when Meg was young and was forced to flee. Some dryads still live there and explain that many of their kind have died in fires or gone missing looking for the source of an intense burning under the Earth. Suddenly reentering the maze to locate the third oracle has gotten a lot more dangerous. Even with reinforcements -- Piper, daughter of Aphrodite -- the odds are against them when Medea shows up in her dragon-pulled chariot. And she's not even the worst villain of the lot. It's the infamous mad and extravagant emperor Caligula she's aiding. With the mysterious fire under the Earth and Apollo's death, she plans to make Caligula more powerful than ever before.
Is It Any Good?
The third book in this fallen-Apollo series sets a fast pace like the others, and reintroduces some truly fantastic villains from history and myth, Medea and Caligula. Medea has her dragon-led chariot and magical powers and an overall bad rap (killing her whole family back in the day). Caligula has his power-hungry madness, his talking/scheming horse, and extravagance (in the form of a long chain of unbelievably opulent yachts here -- one dedicated solely to footwear). The heroes and poor Apollo in Lester's teen body "with love handles" face these foes again and again (maybe too many times) in one of the more action-packed books Rick Riordan has ever written.
With Riordan's usual knack for lightening the mood with lots of humor and quirkiness (like a talking arrow who speaks Shakespearean English and an aloe dryad who heals everyone with her goo), readers may forget that at the beginning of The Burning Maze, the author invokes Melpomene, the Muse of Tragedy. "I hope you're pleased with yourself," the invocation reads. She must be, because things do turn tragic for a major character and the loss will be felt by fans.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the villains in The Burning Maze. Why is Caligula infamous? What does Apollo say made him so evil? Why is Nero reluctant to share power with him?
A dryad complains that, "the killers are remembered as heroes. The growers are forgotten." Do you think this is true?
How has Apollo changed in this series? Do you think it has helped him overcome obstacles on his quests? Do you think it will help him in Book 4?
Book Details
- Author: Rick Riordan
- Genre: Fantasy
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy, Adventures, Friendship, Horses and Farm Animals, Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires, Science and Nature
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
- Publication date: May 1, 2018
- Number of pages: 448
- Available on: Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Last updated: July 20, 2018
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